The present invention relates to thermostats having the capability of tracking, recording, and reporting setback information to a remotely located entity.
Thermostats have heretofore received and implemented adjustments to locally programmed setpoints in response to receiving setpoint information from a remotely located source such as an energy provider. An example of such a thermostat is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/456,355 entitled "Communicating Thermostat". The aforementioned thermostat implements the adjustments to the locally programmed setpoints at such time as the adjustments are scheduled to begin.
The above described thermostat could potentially fail to initiate the adjustments to the locally programmed setpoints if the setpoint information is not timely received. In this regard, the time at which the adjustments were scheduled to start could have already passed. This could happen if there are any unforeseen delays at the energy provider's end in initially transmitting the setpoint information. This could also happen if there is any disruption or delay in the communication link to the thermostat. Such a delay may, for instance, occur if the energy provider is communicating to the thermostat over a phone line that is not dedicated to the thermostat. In this latter case, the phone line could be tied up for long periods of time on other matters.